As digital technologies sweep across the globe, it may be believed that a virtual space will open the way towards greater fluidity of expression for historically oppressed and marginalized people in a too often patriarchal and white dominated society. But do social media and virtual reality truly succeed as modes to seek freedom and gain a new voice for those who feel oppressed? Perhaps the hegemony of the white male extends even into the virtual world, controlling, directing, and constricting the ... {read more}

In the mid-17th century the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded by the [French] King’s painters and sculptors established a genre hierarchy, all dominated by painting. In 2015, after the investiture of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly made “the digital” her hobbyhorse: the dissemination of Canadian content on digital platforms, the development of the digital arts industry. Compelled by evolution and progress, how can ... {read more}

The idea for this program has been kicking around for a while (pun most definitely intended). I’ve long been fascinated with the notion of sports fandom. What about watching sports makes people go a little crazy, get rowdy and, more importantly, become patriotic? I’ve seen the most passionate anti-border activist develop nationalistic preferences during the Olympics and FIFA World Cup, even while criticizing the fact these games contribute to structural imbalances at all levels of society, that they ... {read more}

Self-publishing is about taking up space. It's about not asking permission from a committee of jurors or peer-reviewers or editors. It's about autonomy; it stems from wanting to engage with the world on one's own terms. Its ‘do-it-yourselfness’ is rooted in self-determination, and in not waiting for someone else to do it for you.

Ho Tam returns to articule, since his last show at the gallery in 1995, with an exhibition that focuses on his publishing practice. Combining photographs, ... {read more}

“… history, in its traditional form, under¬took to ‘memorize’ the monuments of the past, transform them into documents, and lend speech to those traces which, in themselves, are often not verbal, or which say in silence something other than what they actually say; in our time, history is that which transforms documents into monuments.” (1)

Tiohtià:ke, the Kanien’kéha/Mohawk word which means “where the people divide” and “broken in two,” describes the ... {read more}

Taken with a neutral facial expression, bullet points follow: Eyes open and clearly visible. Mouth closed, no smiling. How interesting that a passport photo can be a description of an “identity photo” to be captured on a plain white or light-coloured background? What does it mean to a racialized person seeking a status to be reminded that photos must reflect/represent natural skin tones2? What if we notice the delusion of neutrality attributed to the official ... {read more}

When thinking about gardens or parks, references ‘spring’ to mind such as the infamous Garden of Eden, the ornate and geometric Versailles gardens, and the massive Central Park in New York City. Literary incarnations of gardens feature mysterious, symbolic, forbidding, or magical qualities, and they are often portrayed as sites for healing and retreat. In The Garden of Speculations, the diverse practices of Kelly Jaclynn Andres, Maude Bernier Chabot, Véronique Chagnon-Côté and Maude Deslauriers draw ... {read more}

In an age defined by digital spaces and interactions, it may well be that bodies in proximity and physical touch possess an amplified potential for radical experience. Over a period of one week in April at articule we may ponder this notion, as Winnie Ho invites us to hold her hand, a seemingly simple act that will inform her ongoing research on intimacy and collaborative practice. For this project, Conversations with Another While Being, the artist asks strangers to join her within her gallery installation: to lie ... {read more}

My name is Eduardo Shlomo Velázquez. I am a painter, performance artist and filmmaker from Santo Domingo living in New York City. I am very excited to present my most recent work at articule in Montreal. As an artist and activist, Quebec has always been a precious place to come as a young artist. If it is not for art, it is for activism or for just simple inspiration. I found myself back over and over again in Montreal, falling in love with winter, the cultural diversity and the contemporary art scene. So, I am honored to have my ... {read more}

In #Postcolonialbooty, Eduardo Velázquez explores difficult questions of violence, beauty, gender identity and race. In this body of work, fantasy and reality combine to celebrate, reclaim, and critically consider postcolonial expressions of beauty and the turbulent histories that preceded them. Having grown up in the Bronx after immigrating from the Dominican Republic, Velázquez is well aware of the distinct racial politics of the post-colonial DR and the settler- ... {read more}

Each in their own way, the four artists who comprise the exhibition Future Memories present works that investigate time, particularly the temporal spaces that exist between past, present, memory, historicity, and possible futures. Employing different media, from video to textile, the artists Ambivalently Yours, Sophia Borowska, Zinnia Naqvi and Zeesy Powers each share moments that question modernity's notion of time as linear past-present-future categories directed towards progress. They refute a line of thinking ... {read more}

The latest iteration of Karen Tam’s mixed media installation Terra dosChinês Curio Shop (2011-ongoing)[1] turns attention to the spaces of diasporic encounters, examining the transnational movements of bodies and consumer products, and deconstructing the ways in which they shape cultural meaning and everyday life. In this re-imagined curiosities shop a mixture of found and ‘faked’ antiques, chinoiserie art objects, and household items (such as porcelain ... {read more}